Values stop play? Teachers’ attitudes to the early years outdoor environment

Bilton, Helen

doi:10.1080/03004430.2019.1653548

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Educator self-efficacy beliefs influence pedagogical choices and are influenced by personal experience and subject domain beliefs developed during childhood, pre-service training and in-service contexts (Bilton, 2020; Garvis, 2012b; Lemon & Garvis, 2013; McArdle, 2013, 2016; Mertala, 2019). Biesta et al (2015) note that pedagogical confusion is fuelled by teachers’ personal beliefs about children, the role of the teacher and the purpose of education and a lack of robust professional discourse during pre-service training and professional development.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual arts pedagogy in early childhood contexts: The baggage of self-efficacy beliefs, pedagogical knowledge and limited pre-service training

Lindsay

2020

Australasian Journal of Early Childhood

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Visual arts provisions are central to children’s holistic, play-based learning, yet the visual arts self-efficacy beliefs and subject content knowledge of early childhood educators influence pedagogical choices. When early childhood educators lack the visual arts confidence, skills, and knowledge required to effectively support children’s visual arts learning and engagement, children’s learning in the visual arts domain may be restricted; resulting in a negative cycle of influence whereby the next generation are denied their right to access visual languages. Qualitative case study research explored the visual arts beliefs and pedagogy of 12 degree qualified and vocationally trained early childhood educators. The conceptual framework, designed to to interpret and analyse the research data, aligns Dewey’s philosophies of democracy, education and art with the philosophy and visual arts praxis of the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. The research findings suggest educator’s low visual arts self-efficacy beliefs develop during childhood and are not improved by pre-service training, resulting in limited visual arts skills and knowledge. The research participants’ visual arts pedagogy appeared to be strongly influenced by the experiential ‘baggage’ they carried into their pre-service training and practice contexts, by the participants’ theoretical beliefs about children’s development and by a range of divergent beliefs about the purposes of visual art in the early childhood context. Although training has the potential to broadly inform knowledge and practice, this study suggests that unless limiting visual arts self-efficacy beliefs are disrupted by constructivist theoretical knowledge and combined with practical skills and knowledge, the visual arts curriculum offered to children may be significantly compromised.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual arts pedagogy in early childhood contexts: The baggage of self-efficacy beliefs, pedagogical knowledge and limited pre-service training

Lindsay

2020

Australasian Journal of Early Childhood

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“…As ECE attitudes toward outdoor play and risk-taking in play have a major impact on children’s outdoor play in ELCCs [ 27 ], avenues for shifting attitudes are necessary to foster changes in outdoor play provision. The OutsidePlay-ECE intervention was efficient and effective in changing ECEs and ELCC administrators’ tolerance to the risk of children’s outdoor play.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, this opportunity has not been fully leveraged because of various limiting factors. For instance, amid societal risk aversion trends, ECEs face many actual and perceived barriers that are primarily linked to safety concerns [ 27 , 28 ]. Canadian ELCCs require a license to operate and need to follow their provincial or territorial childcare licensing guidelines, which are often interpreted by ECEs in restrictive ways [ 27 , 28 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, amid societal risk aversion trends, ECEs face many actual and perceived barriers that are primarily linked to safety concerns [ 27 , 28 ]. Canadian ELCCs require a license to operate and need to follow their provincial or territorial childcare licensing guidelines, which are often interpreted by ECEs in restrictive ways [ 27 , 28 ]. Furthermore, these barriers intersect with ECEs’ cultural backgrounds and the level of confidence, knowledge, and experience in promoting and accommodating children’s outdoor play, as well as support received (perceived and actual) from their colleagues and the ELCC administration [ 27 - 29 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of the Web-Based OutsidePlay-ECE Intervention to Influence Early Childhood Educators’ Attitudes and Supportive Behaviors Toward Outdoor Play: Randomized Controlled Trial

Brussoni¹,

Han²,

Lin³

et al. 2022

J Med Internet Res

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Background Outdoor play is critical to children’s healthy development and well-being. Early learning and childcare centers (ELCCs) are important venues for increasing children’s outdoor play opportunities, and early childhood educators’ (ECE) perception of outdoor play can be a major barrier to outdoor play. The OutsidePlay-ECE risk-reframing intervention is a fully automated and open access web-based intervention to reframe ECEs’ perceptions of the importance of outdoor play and risk in play and to promote a change in their practice in supporting it in ELCC settings. We grounded the intervention in social cognitive theory and behavior change techniques. Objective The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the OutsidePlay-ECE web-based risk-reframing intervention. Methods We conducted a single-blind randomized controlled trial in Canada between December 2020 and June 2021 to test the OutsidePlay-ECE risk-reframing intervention for ECEs. We recruited participants using social media and mass emails through our partner and professional networks. We invited ECEs and administrators working in an ELCC, who can speak, read, and understand English. We randomized consented participants to the intervention or control condition. The participants allocated to the intervention condition received a link to the OutsidePlay-ECE intervention. Participants allocated to the control condition read the Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play, a 4-page document on research and recommendations for action in addressing barriers to outdoor play. The primary outcome was a change in tolerance of risk in play. The secondary outcome was goal attainment. We collected data on the web via REDCap (Vanderbilt University) at baseline and 1 week and 3 months after intervention. Results A total of 563 participants completed the baseline survey, which assessed their demographics and tolerance of risk in play. They were then randomized: 281 (49.9%) to the intervention and 282 (50.1%) to the control condition. Of these, 136 (48.4%) and 220 (78%) participants completed the baseline requirements for the intervention and control conditions, respectively. At 1 week after intervention, 126 (44.8%) and 209 (74.1%) participants completed follow-up assessments, respectively, and at 3 months after intervention, 119 (42.3%) and 195 (69.1%) participants completed the assessments, respectively. Compared with participants in the control condition, participants in the intervention group had significantly higher tolerance of risk in play at 1 week (β=.320; P=.001) and 3 months after intervention (β=.251; P=.009). Intention-to-treat analyses replicated these findings (β=.335; P<.001 and β=.271; P=.004, respectively). No significant intervention effect was found for goal attainment outcomes (odds ratio 1.124, 95% CI 0.335-3.774; P=.85). Conclusions The results of this randomized controlled trial demonstrated that the OutsidePlay-ECE intervention was effective and had a sustained effect in increasing ECEs’ and administrators’ tolerance of risk in play. It was not effective in increasing goal attainment. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04624932; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04624932 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) RR2-10.2196/31041

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“…Teachers bring their own beliefs and values to the outdoor play environment, and these directly affect children's outdoor play (Renick, 2009). Teachers are concerned about children's safety and have fears about risk-taking, even though they support risky play (Bilton, 2020). As teachers play crucial roles in developing children's risk-taking decisions in regard to outdoor play and engagement, it is vital to understand their perceptions of outdoor play as a way to promote risky play and the physical and emotional wellbeing of young children.…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Risky Play among Kindergarten Teachers in Norway and China

Liu

Birkeland

2022

IJEC

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Risky play provides multiple benefits for children’s development. This study compared teachers’ perceptions of risky play in one kindergarten in Norway and one in China, including the concept of risky play, the roles of teachers, the protective strategies adopted, and the factors limiting the practice of risky play. The aim of the article is to identify how teachers perceive risky play in different cultures and broaden our knowledge of what risky play is. The research question is: How do teachers from different cultures perceive different aspects of risky play? The study employs a risk “thermostat” model (Adams, 2001), drawing on teachers’ perceptions of individual propensity to risks, perceived danger, potential rewards, and accidents in children’s risky play. Semi-structured interviews with ten employees revealed that teachers in the two participating kindergartens had different perceptions of risky play. Findings indicated that teachers in the Norwegian kindergarten have theoretical and practical experience of understanding risky play within their cultural background. Guided by the kindergarten philosophy (rules or guidelines that kindergartens should follow, such as letting go of children and encouraging risky play), kindergarten teachers in Anji (a county in China) have learned a little about risky play and are gradually developing their views on it in practice. Teachers in both kindergartens support children’s risky play, although in different ways and with different perceptions. This study contributes information on the differences in risky play across countries with diverse cultures.

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Values stop play? Teachers’ attitudes to the early years outdoor environment

Cited by 17 publications

References 11 publications

Visual arts pedagogy in early childhood contexts: The baggage of self-efficacy beliefs, pedagogical knowledge and limited pre-service training

Visual arts pedagogy in early childhood contexts: The baggage of self-efficacy beliefs, pedagogical knowledge and limited pre-service training

Evaluation of the Web-Based OutsidePlay-ECE Intervention to Influence Early Childhood Educators’ Attitudes and Supportive Behaviors Toward Outdoor Play: Randomized Controlled Trial

Perceptions of Risky Play among Kindergarten Teachers in Norway and China

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